A Rankine cycle (RC) can capture a portion of heat energy that normally would be wasted (“waste heat”) and convert a portion of that captured heat energy into energy that can perform useful work or into some other form of energy. Systems utilizing an RC are sometimes called waste heat recovery (WHR) systems. For example, heat from an internal combustion engine system such as exhaust gas heat energy and other engine heat sources (e.g., engine oil, exhaust gas, charge gas, water jackets) can be captured and converted to useful energy (e.g., electrical or mechanical energy). In this way, a portion of the waste heat energy can be recovered to increase the efficiency of a system including one or more waste heat sources.
An RC system includes a condenser element to decrease the temperature of the working fluid such that working fluid discharged from the condenser is in a low temperature, low pressure liquid state. To cool the working fluid of the RC, heat from the working fluid is transferred to a low temperature source (e.g., glycol, water etc.) coupled to condenser, and the heated low temperature source is cooled, for example, in a radiator.